PART II
Specific Issues
Wahhābis and the Development of Salafism:
The nature and policy trend of Salafis
Sadashi Fukuda
1. Introduction
In Egypt’s parliamentary elections, which started in November 2011 and
continued till February 2012, parties under the influence of Islamism such as the
Freedom and Justice Party, a political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, have won
a number of seats. Most notably, “al-Nur Party,” a party upholding a stern
Islamism referred to as Salafi, has won 25% of the total seats in the People’s
Assembly, which is equivalent to the Lower House, and 26% of the elected seats
of the Shura Council, an equivalent to the Upper House. The Salafi force is
expanding its influence across the Arab countries including Egypt and Tunisia,
along with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Salafists’ movement is rapidly spreading in Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen, the
countries whose administrations had been toppled in the wake of Arab Spring and
in Morocco as well. The presence of Salafists was known in Kuwait or Lebanon
from the days of old. Though the Salafists were also known in Egypt or Tunisia
for a long time, they were refrained from engaging in activities under the old
administrations including Hosni Mubarak’s. When the old administration was
overturned, they were unleashed from the weights of surveillance and oppression
posed by the authorities. Amid the power vacuum produced immediately after the
old administration had been overturned, the Salafists began to step up their
activities and take the center stage of the society, rapidly showing their presence
on the political arena.
Although information about Salafi abounds, it is difficult to grasp what Salafi
really is, because the information is inconsistent or sometimes even contradictory.
The origin of Salafi is often described in conjunction with the creation of the
Wahhabi movement in Saudi Arabia. This paper is an attempt to examine the
development of Salafi, its nature and policies, by reflecting the information that
has been made available, especially within the context of its relationship with the
Wahhabi in Saudi Arabia. It also delves into its relationship with and differences
from the Muslim Brotherhood. It is my pleasure and honor if my attempt should
help contribute to the understanding of Salafi.
2. Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood
In today’s Egypt or Tunisia, the Salafi and the Muslim Brotherhood are treated as
discrete entities by the media. Both are religious and political forces based on
Islam, but their ideas and principles differ from each other; hence, they exist as
separate organizations and forces.
For example, in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has the Freedom and Justice
Party under its umbrella while al-Nur party belongs to the Salafi, and the two
parties have been engaged in a fierce battle against each other to win the
parliamentary elections. On the primary voting for the presidential election in
May, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists supported diferent candidates.
Also, in Tunisia, the Salafi movement has existed as a religious and political force
different from the Nahda party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. In
May 2012, the Salafi force in Tunisia was allowed to form their political party, the
Reform Front, and has been strengthening their political campaign.
In this way, in today’s Arab countries, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists
exist as separate religious and political forces. However, academic studies often
treat the Muslim Brotherhood as part of the Salafi, rendering it difficult to
differentiate the Salafi from the Muslim Brotherhood, and causing confusions
about the Salafi.
The dictionaries or books on Islam used by scholars or researchers say that the
Salafi originates in the Wahhabi, which rose to power in Saudi Arabia in the 18th
century, and grew and developed as the Islamic reformists mainly in Egypt in the
latter half of the 19th century. Salafism more often than not is described in relation
with those ideologists and activists who advocated for Islamic reform from the
latter half of the 19th century to the 20th century, such as al-Afghani, Muhammad
Abduh, al-Kawakibi, and Rashid Ridha. Furthermore, the Salafis in Egypt entered
a new phase when the Muslim Brotherhood was established in 1928, through
which Salafism, which used to exist only in the discourses by intelligentsia, began
to spread amongst the ordinary people with its organization (sources: “The
Encyclopaedia of Islam, E. J. Brill”, “Islam Jiten (Dictionary of Islam), Iwanami
Shoten”, “Shin Islam Jiten (New dictionary of Islam), Heibonsha.).
The dictionaries and research papers describe the Muslim Brotherhood as part of
Salafism. In a broad sense, Salafi, which derives from the word Salaf (the
ancestor, the initial period of Islam), encompasses a reform movement that calls
for followers to go back to its Islamic origin in order to resurrect Islam. And if the
Muslim Brotherhood is viewed to have been generated in line with the movement,
it is understandable that the Muslim Brotherhood is included as part of Salafism.
However, as mentioned before, in contemporary Egypt, etc., Salafi is used as the
term for indicating an Islamic current different from the Muslim Brotherhood, and
apparently, the Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood are treated as separate entities. In
this paper, “the contemporary Salafi” and Muslim Brotherhood are treated as
being different bodies, and as such, this study evolves regarding the two forces as
being different, treating the Salafi in a narrow sense.
3. Wahhabi and Salafi
Although the origin of the contemporary Salafi in Egypt, etc., still remains
obscure, as there are several interpretations with respect to its origin, it is often
regarded as having been influenced by the Wahhabi of Saudi Arabia. It can safely
be said that the emergence of contemporary Salafi had relation to the Wahhabi
movement in Saudi Arabia.
Then, what was the relationship between the Wahhabi and Salafi in Saudi Arabia
like? Let us go back to the past.
Saudi Arabia is a kingdom created through the collaboration of the Wahhabi
movement and the house of Saud. The kingdom was initiated in the middle of the
18th century when Muhammad b. Abd al-Wahhāb, the founder of the Wahhabi
movement, and Muhammad b. Saud, the chief of the house of Saud, a small clan
in the Najd region (central area in the Arabian Peninsula where cities such as
Riyadh are located) signed an agreement so as to form a collaborative relationship.
Since then, the house of Saud and the Wahhabi had joined forces in expanding
their realm, leading to the establishment of the Saudi state (the first Saudi state,
1744/45–1818). The Saudi state came to a halt twice, before getting resurrected
(the third Saudi state) in 1902 by Abd al-Aziz (assumed the first King later on). It
then changed its name to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932 and has survived
to this day. By the agreement, Wahhabism has become the national religion of the
Saudi state. The tie between the state and Wahhabism has been kept even today
since the state was changed to the Kingdom, and Wahhabism’s positioning as the
dominant Islamic sect remains unchanged. The majority of the people in Saudi
Arabia belong to Wahhabism.
Wahhabism burgeoned in the first half of the 18th century as a reformist
movement of the Sunni school of Islam influenced by the Hanbali school of
jurisprudence (one of the four major Sunni schools of jurisprudenceand, attached
importance to the initial period of Islam). The Wahhabi, attaching importance to
the Quran and Sunna, the teachings of the early Islam, denied the Shi’a, excluded
those that were added to the Islamic thought and society later on (bida), which
included the Saint worshipping, Sufism. And they tried to strictly protect Islam in
its original form. Their rigorous attitude is related to the intolerance in their
attempt to rule the society under Islam and their intolerant and exclusive nature
against the Shi’a.
Because of its posture of attaching importance to Islam from the time of Salaf (the
early days of Islam) as the model, Wahhabism, which rose to prominence in the
18th century, is regarded as the starting point of modern Salafism. There are many
grounds that are commonly found in the arguments and actions of the Wahhabi
and Salafists of today, therefore Wahhabism can be regarded as the prototype of
today’s Salafism.
Moreover, amongst the Wahhabi followers who are especially pious, there are
many who grow their beard long imitating Prophet Muhammad, wear the
traditional clothes in a unique style (prefer clothing that have no taste for
gaudiness; they don’t use ring ornaments for holding hoods, shorten the length of
clothes, etc.) or try to avoid music or dancing, or anything that is gorgeous. Their
tendency toward leading a Islamic way of life has had a huge impact on the
contemporary Salafists in various countries, and there are many who try to follow
such Islamic way of life.
Saudi Arabia is the center of the Islamic world; its two holy places, Makka and
Madina, attract millions of pilgrims from all over the world, and the country is
home to many headquarters of the international Islamic institutes. Wahhabism has
existed as the dominant Islamic sect in the Saudi states and the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia for many years, and has had an impact across the Islamic world through
the exchange of people such as pilgrims traveling to the holy places, exchange of
knowledge and people through teaching and study at the Islamic Universities in
the country, and dissemination of Islamic information through the media or
documents by Saudi Islamic scholars (nowadays through sermons via satellite TV
or the Internet), and through support to the Muslims in many countries.
In addition to those, the fact that Saudi Arabia is an oil-producing country having
high economic power also helped boost its influence in Islamic affairs. And the
influence brought by the millions of expatriates who crossed the border to Saudi
Arabia in order to find jobs not just from the Arab countries but from around the
world (the number of expatriates currently working in Saudi Arabia is around 9
million) should also be noted.
Thus Wahhabism has influenced Muslims in the Arab countries and in the world
in various ways and there are many countries where Salafism had started to take
root under of the influences.
4. Wahhabism and Salafism and Their Involvement in Politics
The Salafists in many countries used to stay away from politics. Perhaps it was
because the influence of Wahhabism was largely observed in religious and
spiritual spheres. Throughout its history, the Wahhabis also tried to avoid getting
involved in politics, and their attitude might have also influenced the Salafists in
other countries.
The Wahhabis’ avoidance in political affairs was attributed to the agreement
between the Wahhabis and the House of Saud sealed in the middle of the 18th
century. In sealing the agreement, Muhammad b. Saud, the chief of the House of
Saud, promised to grant Muhammad b. Abd al-Wahhāb protection, when he had
come to the House of Saud to flee from persecution. Abd al-Wahhāb, in return for
his protection, allegedly responded, “You (Muhammad b. Saud) will be Imām,
leader of the Muslim community, and I (Abd al-Wahhāb) will be leader in
religious matters”1, if Muhammad b. Saud would perform jihād against the
unbelievers.
The agreement meant that the House of Saud would control political affairs, while
leaving the religious matters in the hands of the Wahhabis as the Wahhabis would
endorse the governance by the House of Saud. As the time passed on, a clear line
of segregation was formed between their realms of dominance, which kept the
Wahhabis from interfering in political affairs. The tie the Wahhabis sought to
establish with the House of Saud led them to turn over the political realm to the
hands of the House of Saud.
The tie between the two forces allowed the House of Saud to grow later on and
granted legitimacy to its governance. Meanwhile, for the Wahhabis, the tie
brought about a major turning point for modifying their approaches towards
politics.
However, the Wahhabis were not completely away from the political affairs, and
there were times when they had their presence felt in politics. For example, in the
20th century, when the third Saud state (1902-) was created by Abd al-Aziz, a
soldier group(called Ikhwān) made up of settled Bedouins who were pious
Wahhabi followers engaged in conquest of territories. As the Saudis went on with
the conquest and the expansion of their territories, the Ikhwān who fought on the
front lines gradually mounted their political clout, and started to ask for the strict
application of Islamic law and the continuation of jihād. They began to confront
Abd al-Aziz by the second half of 1920s, and ended up being suppressed and
resolved by Abd al-Aziz. The Ikhwān could be noted as one of the roots of radical
Salafism, Salafi-Jihadism, which emerged later in 1990s out of Wahhabism.
After the incidents of Ikhwān, the Wahhabis refrained again from getting involved
in political affairs except for those that were deeply related to Islam. The House
of Saud did not allow the Wahhabis to get involved in politics, either. In this way,
the Wahhabis’ tendency of keeping distance from the real politics was formed.
Because of this historical posture that the Wahhabis has taken, the Wahhabis’
influence in other countries was felt mainly in religious and spiritual matters; the
Salafi in various countries also tried to place importance on religious and spiritual
aspects, trying to avoid involvement in political affairs. This fact is believed to
account for the reason why the Salafists had rarely involved in political affairs.
However, what should be noted here is that the Wahhabis strategically tried not to
seek political clout in view of their relationship with the House of Saud, which
was by no means in the streak of their nature. If one recalls that politics by the
unity of religion and politics was exercised during the period of early Islam (the
time of Salaf), it is plain to see that the Wahhabis having the characteristics of the
Hanbali school embraced the strong orientation toward politics in their ideology.
It may hold true to today’s Salafists in various countries.
5. From Political Activities to Radicalism
As for Saudi Arabia, after the mid-20th century, the country and the politics began
to undergo drastic transformation towards autocracy, as its oil revenue allowed
the country to further solidify the sovereign power and the governance by the
house of Saud. After the surge of the oil boom in the latter half of the 1970s, there
were some Wahhabi followers who made attempts to get engaged in politics
under a host of influences from inside and outside of the country amid on-going
changes in the country’s economy and social affairs.
The Wahhabi followers, after the 1960s, came to make direct contact with the new
Islamic ideas and principles in the Arab countries. Particularly, the ideologists or
scholars, who started to teach at academic institutions after having fled to Saudi
Arabia in order to escape from suppressive regimes in Egypt or Syria, as they
were the then or former members of the Muslim Brotherhood, had an enormous
impact on the Wahhabi students2. Furthermore, various Islamic movements and
political turbulence that were taking place in adjacent countries in those days,
such as the Islamist movements or the Iranian Revolution kept influencing Saudi
Arabia as well.
Although the Wahhabis had tried to keep their distance from politics, as described
before, they had a strong latent inclination towards politics. As they were
stimulated by the Islamists in Arab countries, after the 1990s, political moves
started to emerge out of the Wahhabi followers. Formation of political parties or
groups was prohibited in Saudi Arabia, and no political activities were allowed.
Those who got involved in politics had to strengthen their activities by getting
confrontational against the government.
The turning point came in 1990–91 at the outbreak of the Gulf Crisis/Gulf War. It
goes without saying that the war gave a profound shock to the Saudi people.
What’s more, the fact that the US troops, made up largely of Christians, were
stationed in Saudi Arabia, the country where Muslims’ holy land Makka is located,
throughout the Gulf Crisis, ignited a sense of crisis amongst the Muslims. In
addition, as Saddam Hussein incited anti-American sentiments in neighboring
countries by making the most of Islam, the anti-American sentiments amongst
Saudi Muslims grew, further leading some political movements. Then, after the
Gulf War came to a close, the political movements by the Wahhabi Islamists
started to surface.
The Islamists who took the center stage of politics anew started to demand that
the government carry out a political reform. In 1993, the Committee for the
Defense of the Legitimate Rights (CDLR) was established, and started to confront
the government in their strife for political reform. The government banned and
suppressed the CDLR. Some CDLR members who sought political asylum
overseas continued their activities in London, for instance. However, the CDLR
in Saudi Arabia stopped its organizational activities completely under the
suppression by the government.
The newly emerged current of Islamists made up mainly of those CDLR members
came to be referred to as the Sahwa (awakening) later on. Those were the people
in line of Islamic related vocations, college professors, administrative officers,
lawyers, and the staff members of the courts, who had once belonged to the
regime that endorsed the Kingdom under the agreement between the Wahhabis
and the House of Saud (the royal family). They came to be awakened in politics
and started to take part in political movements. Sahwa is not a coherent
organizational entity. It is a name given to a current of Islamic political movement
consisting of a group of people or groups sharing the similar ideological
inclinations.
The authorities stepped up their suppression, and a number of Islamists who
belonged to the Sahwa current were arrested in Saudi Arabia in 1994. Among
those arrested were the prominent holy men and scholars of Islam, Salmān
al-Awda and Safar al-Hawālī.
Against such a backdrop, a new current of Salafism began to spread in Saudi
Arabia. They were increasingly concerned over the predicament of Muslims in
Bosnia, Afghanistan, and other countries surrounding the former Soviet Union.
They started to raise donations to support them and began to be actually engaged
in politics. Through participating in the support of Islamic forces in Afghanistan,
they gradually came to embrace jihād, intensified their criticism against the
United States and the monarchy by the House of Saud, leading them to take
radical behaviors such as terror.
It was not until the 1990s that the word Salafi began to appear in the media in
conjunction with the Islamic movement in Saudi Arabia, and the word started to
be used more than before in the 2000s. Although Wahhabism had a lot of Salafi
elements, it had not been referred to as Salafism in itself, nor had Wahhabis got
involved in systematic political activities. The tendency of taking on political
campaigns and radical actions started to emerge in the 1990s, which eventually
led to the Salafi-jihadist.
The people who took the center stage of the Sahwa movement were the religious
elites from Wahhabism. In contrast, about the educational level, around 80% of
those who took part in the new Salafi current, namely, the radical Salafi, were
below university level3, most of them were official workers, teachers, and other
ordinary people4. Geographically, there were many who hailed originally from the
areas such as Hijāz or Asīr, where many residents were Sunnis but not Wahhabi
followers5. This is indicative that the new Salafi current had emanated beyond the
school of Wahhabism although it was based on Wahhabism. These were the
people who had received little benefits from the economic growth that blossomed
from the latter half of the 1970s, these were the people who had been adversely
affected by the social transformation. They started to find their identification in
the new current of Salafism6.
Because it was difficult for those radical Salafists to develop their activities in
Saudi Arabia due to the harsh clampdown by the government, they beefed up
activities abroad, which eventually led them to form the international al-Qaida
movement of Usāma b. Lāden. Al-Qaida is an organization formed by the radical
Salafists and the Egyptian radical group descended from the Muslim Brotherhood.
The influence deeply imbued with the radical Salafism can be found in the
ideology of al-Qaida, for instance, in taking a harsh attitude towards Shi’a in
denial of them (they condemn the Shi’a as unbelievers, and regard them as the
target of terror with the takfīr ideology).
The radical Salafists who had their roots in Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia began to
exert influential power on the radical movements in various parts of the Arab
world through their unflinching anti-American approach and anti-government
movement, or by way of international activities of al-Qaida.
The Islamists who are descended from the Sahwa in Saudi Arabia, upon the
incident of 9/11 in 2001 synchronized terrorist attacks in the United States, have
scaled down their activities as the authorities have reinforced the suppression and
oppression since 2004. Salmān al-Awda who became famous by his
anti-government remarks and activities started to take compromising approaches
toward the government, and the Sahwa followers began to fade away from the
center stage of politics after 2005. The radical Salafists were also unable to
engage in activities in Saudi Arabia because the government beefed up clamping
down on them.
However, the Sahwa movement was not totally perished. In 2005, the municipal
council (city assembly) elections were held across Saudi Arabia as the first
elections ever implemented. In Dammam city, seven seats were contended in an
election of the local council, a group (Surūrī), which is descended from Sahwa,
announced a list of seven candidates from their party7, out of which six won the
seats. This clearly indicates that the Sahwa still retains their strong influential
power socially and politically. Meanwhile, a group from the Muslim Brotherhood
announced their list of seven nominees and ended up sending two candidates to
the council. But, the names of these two candidates were also found in the list of
the Surūrī group.
The power of the Muslim Brotherhood is limited in Saudi Arabia in both their
activities and influence. The most striking characteristic of the Muslim
Brotherhood is that it is a social organization that systematically conducts
activities, for instance, offering aid or support to the poor. In a country like Saudi
Arabia, where the formation of political or social groups was strictly banned by
the authorities, and where the people were enjoying affluence with high personal
income, the spread of such group’s activities was limited. It is also understood
that the Muslim Brotherhood refrained from engaging in organizational activities
reciprocally in the country that provided them shelter to survive.
6. Propagation of Salafism to the Arab World
Amongst the surrounding countries, a country where the Salafi movement can be
observed from an early period (the 1960s) is Kuwait. In Kuwait, Salafists still
maintain their constant force to date.
In the election for the parliament held in Kuwait in 2008, candidates from the
Salafi took ten seats out of the quorum of 50 seats of the parliament. Candidates
from the Islamic Constitutional Movement, the political wing of the Kuwaiti
Muslim Brotherhood, won three seats. Although both the Salafi and Muslim
Brotherhood had suffered a substantial loss in the parliamentary election in 2009
after the parliament was dissolved, they made a comeback in the February 2012
election. Though the details concerning the seats are not yet available, it is
regarded that the Salafi party has won about ten seats in the parliament.
Although the formation of a political party has been prohibited in Kuwait, the
members of the parliament have been allowed to form political blocks within the
parliament, and in reality, the political blocks engage in activities in the
parliament. Because people can announce what ideas or principles those
candidates stand for as they go on the campaign, it is possible to classify
parliamentary members based on their political inclination.
Kuwait is a small country bordered by Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, and is
susceptible to the influence from surrounding countries. The development of oil
fields in the 1940s spurred the country’s economy from early on. In around 1950,
a great number of Arab expatriates started to migrate to Kuwait from Palestine or
Egypt for work. Moreover, the merchants had strong political influence
throughout its history, and the country had a relatively free political environment
compared to other gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia. Under such circumstances,
from the early days, Arab nationalism or ideas of Islamism had been propagated
to Kuwait from other Arab countries.
The Islamists who started activities before others in Kuwait were the Muslim
Brotherhood, and it was in 1947 that the movement of the Muslim Brotherhood
was spread to Kuwait. Then, after Kuwait obtained its independence in 1961, in
the first parliamentary election in Kuwait in 1963, one candidate who endorsed
the Muslim Brotherhood won the election. The liberation party (Hizb al-Tahrir),
which was an Islamic party formed by Palestinian people also started their
activities from around 19538.
It was in the middle of the 1960s that the people referred to as the Salafi started
their activities in Kuwait, and it is considered an extension of the Wahhabi
movement of Saudi Arabia to Kuwait9. In other words, the people referred to as
the Salafi in Kuwait are the people who had been influenced by the Wahhabis of
Saudi Arabia.
Among the Salafis in Kuwait, as described in the section on Wahhabism, there are
the people who prefer to wear long beards and shortened traditional clothes. They
started to gain their influential power gradually with mosques as the base of their
activities and in the society. They were collecting Zakat. At the outset, they did
not get involved in politics much. But, later they nominated candidates for the
1981 parliamentary election, and had two of their men won in the election. In the
same election, candidates of the Muslim Brotherhood won two seats10.
The people referred to as the Salafi in Kuwait have created a loose current made
up of several groups. They call for the application of the Islamic law to the legal
structure of Kuwait in the elections in 1990s and after. Moreover, the Salafis in
Kuwait had criticized the Muslim Brotherhood for having strong interests in
politics way beyond the creed of Islam, and they have continued their activities in
a confrontational and tense relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Amongst the GCC countries, the Salafi has been conducting political activities in
Bahrain as well. In 2010, a group related to Salafi (al-Asāla al-Islāmīya) won
three seats out of the quorum of 40 seats in the election of the Chamber of
Deputies (corresponds to the Lower House). A group related to Muslim
Brotherhood (al-Minbar al-Islāmī) won two seats in the same election. In the
previous election held in 2006, the Salafi won five seats while the Muslim
Brotherhood clinched seven seats. A formation of political parties has been also
banned in Bahrain; however, conducting NGO-like group activities is allowed.
How they have spread to Bahrain is unknown.
Lebanon is another country in which the Salafi was active from the early days.
The Salafi was already active by the middle of the 1970s in Lebanon mainly in
and around Tripoli where many Sunnis were living.
Scholars and religious men in Lebanon who had learned Islam in Saudi Arabia
played a pivotal role in the development of Salafism in Lebanon. The man who
spearheaded the movement was Sālim al-Shahāl, (ca.1922–2008), who, returning
to Lebanon after having learned in Saudi Arabia, started the Salafism activities.
He then went on to establish his movement in Tripoli by the middle of the 1970s.
Shahāl is also known as having a close relationship with Abdul al-Azīz ibn
Abdullāh ibn Bāz (1910–1999), a famous Wahhabi scholar in Saudi Arabia11.
Ibn Bāz became the Grand Mufti12 of Saudi Arabia in 1993, and was designated
as the chairman of the Council of Senior Ulamas (Islamic Scholars) by the king
Fahd, and as such, he was the central figure of the Wahhabis, who represented the
religious circle in Saudi Arabia. It is known that Ibn Bāz offered opportunities for
hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians to learn Islam in the universities in Saudi
Arabia. This also illustrates the fact that the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia played a
major role in the development of Salafism in Lebanon.
Lebanon plunged into a long civil war in the middle of the 1970s. Amid the
uncertainty in which various forces fought against one another, religious, political,
and militia groups began to launch their campaigns in many different places. The
radical Salafists (the Salafi-jihadists) also began to step up their influence under
such circumstances. However, the movement of radical Salafists shall not be dealt
in this paper. It may be dealt with at some other opportunity.
As observed in the examples of Kuwait or Lebanon, the Wahhabis in Saudi
Arabia had an enormous influence on the creation of Salafism. Based on these
aspects, it could be understood that the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia have
significantly influenced the development of today’s Salafism in various countries
including Egypt.
The ideas and principles of Salafism had spread far beyond the realm of
Wahhabism and made an impact across the Middle East and the Islamic world.
What made it possible for them to spread amongst non-Wahhabi Sunnis? Salafism
underlines the importance of initial Islam in the days of Salaf. It was the time
before the four orthodox schools of Islamic law (madhhab) within Sunni Islam
were created, the time when there was no distinction amongst the schools of
Islamic law. The spirit of Salafism, which attached importance to the Quran and
Hadis as the origin of Islam, had resonated in the hearts of Sunni people and had
been accepted by them irrespective of their school of law, thus spreading beyond
the realm of Wahhabism.
The Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia, in this way, had an impact on other Islamic
countries including the neighboring countries, and played a major role in the
process of generating Salafism. On the other hand, the Wahhabis existed as a
dominant Islamic sect in Saudi Arabia, and the Wahhabi Salafists did not appear
as an independent movement until the 1990s in the country. In the 1990s, the
Wahhabi Salafists started to embark on their own movement in Saudi Arabia. The
Salafists’ movement developed into radical Salafism, taking on a different course
from the contemporary Salafism.
7. Policies of the Salafi Party
Initially, Salafism was a current (tayyār) made up of individuals or groups who
did not have any organization. In Egypt, it was a loose group of people who came
to know each other through the gatherings at the Mosque or through other
networks. They stayed away from politics and worked mainly for religious
activities.
In Egypt or Tunisia, the Salafists have been strengthening their political
movement and some of them have formed political parties in the aftermath of the
so-called “Arab Spring.” From the perspective of Salafism, which regards the
time of Salaf as the model, the time when a unity of politics and religion was
exercised, it is natural that the Salafists who were liberated from the authoritarian
government are trying to strengthen their involvement in politics.
The policies that Salafists will draft in the future will attract wide attention.
However, as they have seldom engaged in politics before, there are many
uncertainties with regard to the concrete policies that the Salafists are to make in
the future.
In Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism that has many elements of Salafism is exercising its
influential power on the state institution, economy, and society as the dominant
Islamic sect. As for the legislative system, the Basic Law of Governance
stipulates that “the Quran and Sunna are the constitution of the Kingdom”13, and
the legal system is based on the Islamic law (centered on the Hambali school of
jurisprudence). The court is centered on the Islamic court (the mahkama), and the
country’s diplomacy, economy, and media are also immensely influenced by
Islam. Its judicial and educational systems are placed under the strong influence
of Wahhabism. Those committing grave crimes regulated in Islamic law are
sentenced to decapitation in the public place. Whipping is also performed as
punishment.
On the social front, many types of restraints are imposed on people: women
should wear a veil, women must not drive a car, saint worshipping or Sufi is
banned, public activities by other religions such as Christianity are not allowed, a
man and a woman, especially Saudi woman, are prohibited and kept from being
together at work or at school except some rare cases, alcohol is prohibited,
women are not allowed to go on a trip by themselves without male guardian,
stores or restaurants should close during the time of prayer (in order to give
preference to the prayer), women are restricted to take part in sports, movies also
are restricted to be played, and so on. On the streets, religious police are clamping
down on what they deem as anti-Islam behavior 14.
However, should Salafists grab the administration in Egypt or perhaps join in the
administration, for instance, an extreme Islamic policy just like in Saudi Arabia
would not be immediately taken or examined.
Abdl-Munim Abul-Futūh, who won support by al-Nur party and garnered support
by the Salafists, and Muhammad Mursi, the candidate from the Muslim
Brotherhood, ran for the first phase of presidential election held in May 2012 in
Egypt (the primary voting). For the election, the Ahram Newspaper (the
Ahramonline, the Web version, May 16, 2012) made and posted a minute listing,
which covered 26 items of compared and contrasted domestic and foreign policies
and economic and social policies of individual candidates.
According to the listing, it should be noted that Abul-Futūh’ (supported by the
Salafists) claimed that he “would implement the Islamic law and attain
democracy” for the “Type of State (Civilian vs. Religious)”, and he “would boost
Islamic financing” for economy, but, except for these two policies, he would not
particularly pursue Islamic values on other agendas including the policy on
women. Abul-Futūh himself did not belong to a Salafi party, but his claims of
“implementing Islamic law” and “boosting Islamic financing” resembled very
much what the Salafists were calling for. However, on other policies, he did not
hold Salafi or Islamic aspects strongly. Notwithstanding, he won support from the
Salafists.
The policies proposed by Mursi who was the candidate of a wing of the
Brotherhood did not contain much Islamic inclination as a whole, although he
proposed several new policies. It was perhaps because he was concerned with the
reaction from the voters. He did not present concrete policies or refrained from
sending out clear messages on policies on women or other policies that might
provoke criticism or ignite arguments.
In view of those phenomena, it is highly likely that the Salafists and the Muslim
Brotherhood, once they actually get engaged in politics, would try to find a
middle ground so that they can choose realistic approaches on policies. They
would try to avoid strong opposition amongst the people rather than push their
ideas or principles forward. It is possible that they accept reality and propose
more modest policies.
However, depending on the political development in the future, it is possible that
the Salafi party might pursue policies that are inclined towards the Islamic
approach to a certain degree, and their positioning on the Islamic law, alcohol, or
the clothing of foreign women could become an issue. Furthermore, apart from
the level of the political party, the Salafists might step up their activities in the
streets or at universities, for instance, interfering with women’s outfits, opposing
drinking, confronting Christians, and banning saint worshipping or Sufism. The
possible move that the Salafists would take, who strictly observe Islamic teaching,
is unfathomable in many ways.
Then, what might the economic policy be? The Salafists, who regard Islam in its
initial days as the model, attach importance to the economic ideas of the original
Islam. According to the economic philosophy of the original Islam, economic
activity such as commerce was acknowledged as something that enriches Unma
(Islamic community), and the private ownership of fortune was also
acknowledged. Meanwhile, charging interest in financial transactions was
prohibited. The Salafists’ ideas on economy are akin to those of capitalism except
for the prohibition of interests, and therefore, it is considered that they would
claim economic policies in line with capitalism and liberalism. The Salafists
would not prefer the government’s intervention in economic affairs in order to
adjust the gap between the rich and the poor.
Paul Schemm of Associated Press wrote in 2008 about Salafism in Egypt as
following; “Salafism has proved highly adaptable, appealing to Egypt’s wealthy
businessmen, the middle class and even the urban poor -- cutting across class in
an otherwise rigidly hierarchical society. In Cairo’s wealthy enclaves of Maadi
and Nasr City, robed, upper-class Salafis drive BMWs to their engineering firms,
while their wives stay inside large homes surrounded by servants and children.” 15
This account shows us that Salafism and capitalism match well. And it also
explains us one of the reasons why the Salafis have been acquiring influence in
Egypt. Salafism has been appealing to wealthy businessmen, the middle class and
the urban poor who were created in the economic development and the social
transformation during the reign of ex-president Hosni Mubarak.
On the other hand, the economic policy by the Muslim Brotherhood strikes a
contrast. The Muslim Brotherhood is an organization that has been involved in
social activities, mainly in voluntary social services for the poor in Egypt and
other countries. The Muslim Brotherhood, which organization is essentially based
on the people from the lower bracket of society, has a tendency of placing
importance on social fairness and equality, and therefore, it is highly likely that
they focus on the social measures and take policies beneficial to the poor people
and farmers. Therefore, the roles the state in the economy are inevitably
reinforced. Though, they may try to deal with political, diplomatic, or women’s
issues flexibly, it seems that they may be keeping strong concerns over social
measures such as the poverty issue.
With respect to the economic policy, there are significant differences between the
Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood, despite that their supports for the Islamic
banking and its financing are common.
The economy has suffered enormous damage due to the social instability that had
endured more than a year in countries such as Egypt. They first must tackle the
economic reconstruction. Under the president Mursi, they will eventually proceed
with the measures for the poor and the farmers.
Conclusion
In the Arab countries, the Islamic influence has been spreading dramatically in the
wake of the so-called “Arab Spring.” In Egypt, the influential power of the
Muslim Brotherhood has been on the rise particularly, but the presence of Salafi
influence is also clearly palpable. Under the new circumstance, it is undeniable
that the roles that the Salafists are going to play in the political sphere are surely
going to expand in the future.
The Salafists live in the western countries as well as Islamic nations. The
circumstances under which the Salafists live differ from one country to another,
but they will have a variety of impacts on the society and politics of those
countries as an Islamic current that is different from the Muslim Brotherhood.
As radical Salafism emerged from Salafism, the cautious opinions, which cast
doubt over the radicalization of the Salafists, still remain. Under the new
landscape created in the aftermath of the Arab upheaval, it may yet take some
time before the Salafists will become able to play a major political role in
stabilized countries.
___________________________________ 1 Al-Rasheed, Madawi [2002] A History of Saudi Arabia, Cambridge University
Press, p. 17 2 Amongst ideologists and scholars who came to Saudi Arabia, the most
influential was a Syrian called Muhammad Surūr Zayn al-Ãbdīn. Surūr was a
member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria from the 1950s to the 1960s, but left
the group as he came to confront other members. When the Syrian authorities
stepped up crackdown the Islamic movement, he left the country for Saudi Arabia
in 1967, and taught at an Islamic Institute in Buraida.
However, as he was marked by the authorities, he left Saudi Arabia six years
later in 1973, worked as a journalist in Kuwait, and then moved on to England in
1983. He established the Sunnah Study Center in Birmingham, and started to
publish a magazine “Al-Sunnah”. Surūr kept having an impact on Saudi Arabia
through writing and other activities, and is believed to have had a significant
influence on the movement of Islamists in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War, which
broke out in 1991. (Alshamsi, Mansoor Jassem [2011] Islam and Political Reform
in Saudi Arabia, The quest for political change and reform, Routledge, London
and New York, pp. 62-63).
Those who came under the influence of Muhammad Surūr came to be referred
to as the Surūrī. The Surūrīs have taken strict Islamic ideology from Ibn Taymīya
(a 13th–14th-century scholar of the Hambali school of jurisprudence), and
embraced a revolutionary attitude from Sayyid Qutb (a radical ideologist of the
Muslim Brotherhood). It is akin to grafting the action principles of the Muslim
Brotherhood on the Salafi ideology of Wahhabism. Though those who were called
Surūrī were not members of the Muslim Brotherhood, they became interested in
and got involved in politics as they learned more about the political and social
nature of the Muslim Brotherhood. 3 Hegghammer, Thomas [2010] Jihad in Saudi Arabia, Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 240-243. 4 The majority of the people in Saudi Arabia become public officials or teachers. 5 Ibid. 6 Sadashi, Fukuda [2006] Saudi Arabia–Terror and Democratization Sadashi Fukuda, et al., The Bush Administration of America and the Middle East in Turmoil, Institute of Developing Economies, pp. 177-184. 7 Because even groups were banned from engaging in political activities, the roster of recommended candidates was transmitted to voters covertly via cell phones or the Internet. Note that elections have not been held since in Saudi Arabia. 8 al-Mdaires, Falah Abdullah [2010] Islamic Extremism in Kuwait, From the Muslim Brotherhood to al-Qaeda and other Islamic political groups, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 10-32. 9 Ibid., p. 33. 10 Ibid., p. 35. 11 Gambill, Gary C, [2009] “Islamist Group in Lebanon.” In Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis, Lebanon, ed. Rubin, Barry, 131-154, Palgrave, New York. 12 The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia is appointed by the king. The Grand Mufti is the most senior scholar of Islamic law in Saudi Arabia who has the authority to issue fatwā (legal opinions) concerning the Islamic law, the Nation’s conducts such as war and social affairs. 13 The first article, the Basic Law of Governance of Saudi Arabia. The first article stipulates the Quran and Sunna as the constitution. The Basic Law does not say that the constitution is the Islamic Law. It is a reflection of Wahhabism, which places importance on the Quran and Sunna.
14 The details of the activities of the religious police in Saudi Arabia (the
Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice) are described on the
homepage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. The Safety Instructions for
the Japanese living in Saudi Arabia The Embassy of Japan in Saudi
Arabia. http://www.anzen.mofa.go.jp/manual/saudi_arabia.html 15 Paul Schemm, “Ultraconservative Salafi Islam flourishing in historically
liberal-leaning Mideast countries”, 20th October, 2008, Associated Press Writer.
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